While organizing materials and tools can streamline production with increased efficiency, proper workplace inventorying is also tantamount to safety. For many project managers, a jumbled-up tool box is more than a headache and can throw your entire schedule off. But we’re not just talking about a lost hammer or screwdriver either. Sure, having to scramble around for basic tools to get the job done is frustrating. But imagine the catastrophic results if the same carelessness is given to dangerous chemicals. Mislabeled chemical containers are the proxies for negligent employers and one of the leading causes of accidents in the workplace.
Mislabeled Chemical Containers are Precursors to Disaster
Everything has a place, and organization is the key to workplace safety. Mislabeled chemical containers are common oversights on the job-site. Just how many times have you strolled through the job-site and thought to yourself, “I wonder what’s in that blue plastic barrel by the company truck?” We’re sure this was just a passing afterthought. Unfortunately, these “passing afterthoughts” are a lead-up to pending disaster. But who’s to blame for these mislabeled chemical containers? Shouldn’t the boss put these in a designated storage area? Delegation in proper chemical storage on the job-site the insidious side of bureaucracy. We often meet such daily mysteries with a shrug and assume it’s someone else’s job. But miscues in management and logistics, such as these, places employees and the public in a perilous state.
Segregated Chemical Storage Can Prevent Fires, Explosions and Hefty Fines
Truthfully speaking, proper chemical storage is never ‘someone else’s job.’ We all have a vested interest in workplace safety. Fires and industrial events are never just ‘localized events.’ Chemical spills can quickly spread throughout the facility, and even into the environment where it can take years to clean-up. Explosions at factories will rock the very foundation of the communities these facilities serve. Everyone has to do their party to ensure workplace safety.
The 2014 explosion at a waste water disposal facility in Santa Paula, Calif., exemplifies the true dangers of proper chemical storage. Thirty-seven people were injured when the back of vacuum truck exploded and was thrown across the facility. The truck was cleaning up a chemical spill when its contents came in contact with an organic peroxide, which the company was forbidden from having onsite. When it mixed with the chemicals in the truck, a tremendous explosion ensued. The unfolding chaos looked like a scene from straight out of a Michael Bay film. Firefighters were stopped dead in the tracks as the newly formed incendiary substance melted the soles of their boots on contact. A toxic cloud mushroomed into the atmosphere as this worst-case scenario became an unnerving reality.
Palletized Containers For Chemical Storage
Before even thinking about a chemical storage locker, project managers should know what they’re dealing with by properly inventory job-site chemicals. This can seem like a tedious task, but categorizing chemical inventory will allow for these chemicals to be stored with other compatible materials, which will prevent inadvertent fires and reactions. By openly acknowledging your chemical inventory with proper labels, you also engender confidence within your employees, knowing their safety is a priority.
Our fire-rated chemical storage lockers are outfitted with large roll-up fork-lift accessible doors, which simplifies the retrieval and storage of large drums and smaller totes. Metal partitioned walls within the locker can separate different classifications of chemicals, as well. Our fire-rated storage lockers can come equipped with optional fire suppression system that can quickly douse flames. An innovative continuous steel grated floor system sits above a spill containment sump to catch spills and leaks, thus preventing environmental contamination.
